


diamonds are a girl's best friend

by khalasaar



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/F, I ALWAYS FORGET ABOUT YOU CAUSE OF THE F UCKING LACK OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, JESUS CHRIST ZAY I AM SO SORRY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-22 07:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7425427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khalasaar/pseuds/khalasaar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riley, of course, believes in this wholeheartedly. Showtunes just don't lie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	diamonds are a girl's best friend

Despite her annoyance, Riley inhales heavily and tries to give her girlfriend the benefit of the doubt.

Maya’s always a zombie when she wakes up, a heavy sleeper with morning voice that doesn’t leave until well after lunch. She falls asleep on public transport, on the floor, even in the kitchen sometimes - a half-finished bowl of cereal by her head, snoring away to make up the hours she spends at night painting or writing or prowling around in search of snacks. So Riley always wakes up first, and Maya is always curled up next to her, no matter how late it is. Even when Riley decides to sleep in, Maya sleeps later, a ball of frizzy blonde hair and loose mascara flecks, tangled up in Riley everywhere she can. And when she finally does wake up, it takes her quite a while to start functioning fully.

So today, although Riley is practically itching with impatience, she stifles it as much as she can and lets Maya sleep. The blonde is pressed into her side, arm tight around Riley’s waist, face pressed to her chest and snoozing happily. Riley pushes a strand of hair from Maya’s face and threads it back behind her ear, where the industrial piercing Maya got for her last birthday is shining in the light. They had to redo it recently, after the first infection set in, and the process of healing has just started over again; Maya flinches in her sleep as Riley’s fingers brush across it. It’s almost 9 AM, and sunlight is bleeding through their bedroom window, turning everything gold; Maya is practically a space heater where their bodies overlap. Riley fidgets with her empty ring finger and, feeling almost nauseous, curls her hand into a fist.

She picks up her phone from the nightstand and unplugs it with a sharp jerk; the lockscreen is blurred with notifications, unread texts from the groupchat that includes everyone but Maya. She reads back through them to the start of their conversation, when her and Maya were both still awake and watching TV on the couch, Maya snarkily criticizing the chefs on Chopped, Riley distracted by her secret conversation.

_Farkle: It’s tomorrow, right?_

_Riley: Yeah._

_Lucas: Do you think she’s gonna do anything?_

_Smackle: She better._

_Riley: I really don’t know_

_Riley: I mean, obviously, I would love it. But Maya isn’t always great with commitment_

_Lucas: For you she totally is…_

_Riley: Okay I don’t know!! I’m hoping_

_Farkle: Has she been acting weird?_

_Smackle: Weird is not the right word, sweetheart. He just means were there any signs?_

_Farkle: Check your credit card statements. That should help_

_Lucas: Farkle, oh my God. No_

_Farkle: Riley?_

_Farkle: Riiiiley?_

 

She checks the timestamp of the last message, suppresses a grin, and texts back. Lucas answers almost instantly.

 

_Riley: Sorry. I got… busy_

_Lucas: Lord._

_Riley: I said sorry!!_

_Farkle: Did she do it?_

_Riley: She’s not even awake yet_

_Smackle: I’m coming over with an airhorn. This is too much_

_Riley: It’s fine! It’s fine_

_Riley: Just wish me luck_

 

Nervousness churning in her gut, she turns her phone off and tosses it onto the nightstand before anyone answers.

A few seconds pass, and the door creaks open. Moth, their strangely named shelter cat, slips into the room; she’s probably just curious about the noise, but Riley relaxes. The gray-and-white furball has a scarily calming presence, one that made even Maya, who usually hates cats, fall in love with her instantly.

Oblivious to Maya’s deep sleep, Moth pads into the room, surveys the two of them, and then leaps straight onto Maya’s shoulder, dangerously close to her face.

“No!” Riley hisses. Moth stares back at her serenely. “Get off.” She waves a hand, and Moth follows the track of her finger but doesn’t move. “Ugh, stop.” She reaches forward, and the cat shrinks back, stepping straight back onto Maya’s face.

“OW!”

Maya wakes up all at once, startled by the pain of claws on her cheek, and slams upward to sitting so suddenly that she almost headbutts her girlfriend. Moth leaps off the bed with her tail raised and streaks out so fast that Maya doesn’t even register what’s happened. Her eyes are bright and utterly confused; she brings a hand to her cheek and finds three pinprick dots on her cheek, bleeding just barely. The room stills as she meets Riley’s gaze. “What was that?”

“Your cat is stupid.”

“Is not,” Maya defends instantly, then frowns. “You love her.”

“Yeah, I do. But her clawing did kinda wake you up.”

Maya snorts. “I’m sure it’s well past time to get up anyway.” She reaches for her phone to check the time, and the blood rushes away from her face in conjunction with the screen lighting up. Apprehension makes a sudden stab in Riley’s chest, and she holds her breath as Maya gazes down at the date, her face totally unreadable - and then the excitement falls all at once, brought to a halt by Maya looking up and saying, pleasantly: “Yep. Time to get up.”

Nevermind.

“What are we doing today?”

“Up to you,” Riley manages to say, through her immense frustration.

“Well,” Maya starts, completely oblivious; Riley is trying not to glare. “We could go out,” the blonde suggests, tilting Riley’s face toward her with one gentle hand; Riley tries to hold back a shiver as she meets Maya’s eyes, a soft, sincere blue, and fails. “Or, we could stay in,” she continues in a very low voice, leaning forward as she talks, “and you could let me kiss you, because I am very much in love with you, and I still can’t believe that we’re dating.”

Maya pulls her forward, ever so gently, and they’re halfway to a kiss that Riley knows would be the best possible start to her day when she pushes a hand against Maya’s chest and says abruptly, “Why?”

Maya slams to a stop. “Why what?” Her eyebrows are furrowed in confusion, and she drops one hand to Riley’s waist, where it still raises an uncomfortable tingle.

“Why can’t you believe we’re dating?” Riley bites her lip nervously. Maya is still staring at her, her expression nearly blank, head tilted very slightly; Riley feels almost bad for asking, but her whole morning has been a rollercoaster of concern, the kind that only an honest talk can solve. She winces under the weight of Maya’s stare. “I mean… it’s been five years.”

“No, that’s not -“ Maya quirks an eyebrow at her and then inhales deeply. “Riles, come on. You know me. You know I love you. It’s not like that. It’s like…” she licks her lips, uncomfortable. “I’m not good enough for you.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Not in my head it’s not.”

Riley snorts. “But it’s not true. Come here.” Maya beams and throws herself into Riley’s lap, wraps her legs around the brunette’s waist, buries her head into Riley’s shoulder. Riley leans backwards against her weight and laughs. “You’re like a koala.”

“Mhm,” Maya agrees, snuggling closer.

“So.” Riley shifts upward and pulls Maya closer by the hips. “Are we going out?”

Maya groans.

“What?”

“If we go out I have to find something to wear.”

“Uh, yeah,” Riley agrees, snaps Maya’s bra strap jokingly. “You do.”

“But where do you wanna go?”

“Vegan cafe downtown?” Riley suggests. “And shopping at the art store you like?”

“And we can go to the arboretum and make out behind a bush or something.”

“Stop it.” Riley swats at her girlfriend, who dodges the hit easily with a shit-eating grin. “What is up with you today?”

“Nothing. I’m in a good mood.” Maya rolls off her lap and hits the floor with both feet, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she trots toward the bathroom. “Let’s get ready?”

Riley inhales. “Yep. Sure.”

*

Things only get more confusing as the day goes on. Maya is in a great mood and a nice dress, but she hasn’t said a word about the fact that it’s June 8th, and apparently has no idea why Riley is so aggravated. Which seems impossible. Maya is a smart girl, especially when it comes to Riley, and the brunette has a hard time believing that she would just forget something like this.

She’s trying to enjoy this date. It’s great. It’s lovely. Maya is kissing her constantly, she had a smoothie bowl for breakfast, their hands are intertwined, the sun is shining and it’s not as humid as it has been, a miracle for Florida. Everything is shiny and beautiful in the morning light, a coastal gold. But it’s really, really difficult.

“You okay?” Maya glances at her sideways, halfway to picking up a tube of paint. They’re in the cramped, sunlit art store that Maya practically lives in, looking for supplies - new colors, a new canvas - and Riley, who is usually enthusiastic about this sort of stuff, is standing in the corner gazing into space. Maya drops the paint back into the bin and moves closer to her girlfriend; one hand is buried in the pocket of her jacket, and she rests the other one on Riley’s arm, raising her eyebrows in concern. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Riley says.

Maya gives her a disbelieving look.

“Seriously,” Riley insists. “It’s fine. What are we looking for?”

Maya pauses for a long second. “Ochre,” she says finally. “I can’t find a small one.”

“Okay.” Riley steps forward, but Maya stops her with the press one hand to her chest and keeps her there, meeting Riley’s eyes steadily. The intensity with which she’s searching the brunette’s face is excruciating, and Riley feels like it’s cracking her open from the inside, revealing a whole landscape of insecurities. She braces for impact.

“Hey,” Maya says. “I love you.”

Riley bites her lip. “I love you too.”

Maya stares at her, then smiles vacantly in answer.

*

The arboretum is surreal today. It’s so bright that the colors of the plants look fake, but it’s real, and beautiful: fields of lush green grass, trees from all over the world, bushes flowering with roses and pretty flowers that are impossible to pronounce. It’s pretty empty for a Saturday, and quiet except for ducks splashing around in the lake, from which they return covered in algae. Riley and Maya are parked out on a bench by the water, under the protection of the only shade around. Maya’s rifling through all the stuff she bought and talking to Riley absently, though the brunette is so far removed from her head that she can’t hear it anyway. Her heart has been thrumming too fast all day, her anxiety is sky-high, and it’s making things difficult in more ways than one. Up above, a bird soars beneath the clouds. Riley watches it.

“Maya,” she says.

“Mhm.”

“Do you know what day it is.”

In the corner of her eye, she can see Maya freeze up.

“Saturday,” the blonde answers slowly.

“It’s the 8th.”

Riley is still staring straight ahead, but she can feel Maya's breath hitch. The world pauses for half a second.

“I know,” Maya says quietly.

“And you didn’t say anything,” Riley accuses, her temper flaring. Rage sparks all across her skin, flushes her forehead with a deep heat.

“Riles - I - I’m sorry.” She reaches out, but Riley flinches away, giving her a glare heavy with unwanted tears. “Can I explain, please?”

“What could you say that could possibly explain forgetting our anniversary?””

“Oh, God, Riles. I didn’t forget.” Confused, Riley turns and catches Maya in the middle of pulling a small velvet box from her pocket. Her heart drops out straight through her feet. She can feel it stop and start again, ragged and more hurting than helpful as it catches like a rock in her throat on the way back up.

“I didn’t forget. I would never. I just -“ Maya is staring at the box, turning it over in her hands, and Riley spies the gleam of tears in her eyes. A breeze ruffles her hair as she struggles to find words. “I had this whole thing planned out, a lot better than this, no offense, but I woke up this morning, and all that stuff I said about not feeling good enough for you - that’s all true. I totally freaked out. I was gonna propose. But, honestly. You looked so good this morning, and you were treating me so well even though I was being an asshole, and I just…” She shrugs, looking up at Riley. “Please don’t be mad.”

Riley stares at her in silence for a long moment.

“Well,” she says finally, “are you gonna do it?”

“Do what?”

“Propose?” Riley raises her eyebrows, like, _duh_. “I mean, you have the ring already.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m serious. I’ve been waiting forever.”

“Oh my God, Riles, I’m so sorry. I have, too. I got it so long ago and I kept making all these plans and then I-“

“Maya,” Riley says firmly, tilting Maya’s chin up to look at her, “Just give me this goddamn ring, and I will forgive you for literally anything.”

Maya beams at her. She doesn’t bother to get on her knee before opening the ring box and saying, her voice shaky with tears and laughter, “Riley Matthews, will you marry me?”

“I will indeed,” Riley says, grinning as she steals the box from Maya’s hands. “Thank you, peaches."

**Author's Note:**

> special shoutout today to @fightiingdragons for being my beta!!
> 
> sincerely hope you enjoyed this, y'all want me to write something specific, send it out to philtaatos.tumblr.com. (i post lots of updates and ideas there too.) or send other things! whatever's on your mind. I love making friends and hearing from you guys.
> 
> comments/kudos/criticism is always very very appreciated. thank you for reading (& for those of you that have been around for a while, sticking with me). i love you! :)


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